Crossway Community, Inc.

Crossway Community, Inc. is an entrepreneurial, non-profit organization with a mission to promote learning, creativity, and community for all families. After renovating an abandoned school located on fourteen acres in Kensington, MD, Crossway Community, Inc. opened its doors in the summer of 1990.  Since then, Crossway has offered a continuum of integrated educational and supportive services for families of all ethnic and economic backgrounds with a focus on outreach to low-income, at-risk families.

Programs

  • The Family Leadership School to end and prevent homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse, child abuse and neglect and poverty through an on-site supportive housing program for 40 single parent, low-income families.
  • The Crossway Community Montessori School to foster positive and healthy child development and school readiness through full-day, year-round innovative education services for children from infancy to age six.
  • The Neighborhood Community Center to build community and generate social capital through recreational and cultural programs and service learning opportunities that offer common connections among families from across the Washington, DC region.

Principles of the Organization

Crossway Community's programs are designed in response to the voices of children and families heard over the past decade through focus groups, surveys, hands-on service delivery and on-going interaction.  Our work is built on the belief that family support is achieved in partnership with families, through the educational process and community participation, and is guided by the following principles:

  • Children develop in the context of family
  • Families develop in the context of community and are foundation of a healthy society
  • Parents have primary responsibility for their children's development and well-being
  • Most families are doing their best with the resources they possess at a given time - respectful, reciprocal support can enable them to make positive changes in their lives.
  • Quality family support builds on strengths and protective factors in preventive, culturally competent ways
  • Successful family support services are delivered in an environment of physical and emotional safety - a place where participants feel welcome to learn, share and work together
  • Collaboration amongst family support providers is critical to family and community development

Crossway Community distinguishes itself from other organizations by:

  • Providing long-term services in an educational framework;
  • Emphasizing family strengths and assets from a multigenerational perspective;
  • Working with families to identify risks and create strategies to address these;
  • Being community-based and bringing families together across culture and class; and
  • Focusing on the importance of early childhood intervention using Montessori theory to promote individual development, independence and social skills.

Learn more about the Family Leadership School and Crossway Community Montessori School.

Contact Us

Crossway Community, Inc.
3015 Upton Drive
Kensington, MD 20895
Phone 301-929-2505
Fax 301-949-4741
Email: reception@crossway-community.org

Chief Executive Officer, Kathleen Guinan
kguinan@crossway-community.org

Head of School, Ann Byrne
abyrne@crossway-community.org

For more information about how to donate to Crossway Community and volunteer opportunities at Crossway Community, please click here.

Location and Directions

Crossway Community's physical environment is designed to support the creative learning experience.  The facility is located on a beautiful 14-acre campus in Kensington, MD, and includes an adult education center, a computer lab, state of the art classrooms for children from infancy through kindergarten, two community rooms and a 40-unit apartment complex.  The surrounding grounds offer playing fields, picnic areas, a community garden, playgrounds and wooded area with nature trails.

From the Beltway or from Washington, D.C.

Take Connecticut Ave. exit north toward Kensington. Stay in the right lane on Connecticut Ave. and bear right onto University Blvd. (Connecticut Ave. extended turns to the left at this point.) Continue on University Blvd. And turn left onto East Ave. (McDonalds is on your left and Westfield Shopping Town is on your right) and follow directions below.*

OR

Take Georgia Ave. exit north toward Wheaton.  Turn left onto University Blvd. And turn right onto East Ave. (McDonalds is on your right and Westfield Shopping Town is on your left) and follow directions below.*

From Upcounty:  Take Viers Mill Road or Georgia Ave. south towards Wheaton.  Turn right onto University Blvd. And turn right onto East Ave. (McDonalds is on your right and Westfield Shopping Town is on your left) and follow directions below.*

*From East Ave.: Make a left onto Upton Drive.  Continue on Upton Drive until the end (two blocks) and enter the parking lot.  Come up the stairs in the middle of the building and enter through the canopied, purple doors.

Using Metro:  Go to the Red Line Wheaton Metro stop.  During rush hour only, take Metro Bus L-7, during all other times take the Ride-On #34 or #35.  The bus will drop you off at the McDonalds at University Blvd. and East Avenue.  If you chose to walk from the Metro Station, it should take approximately 15 minutes.

 

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